Finding the Right Apartment for YOU
All college students, new and returning, have one thing on his or her mind: whenever they are going to start a new year at school they are wondering "How and where am I going to find the right apartment for me?" Apartments are one of the most important things to a respectful student who is going to school to learn and not to party, and one that wants a nice place to stay. If you are looking for a place where you don't have to worry about break-ins or loud parties surrounding you, an apartment a little farther from campus is probably your best bet. Keep in mind, however, the most important thing when apartment hunting is to make sure that your rental contract is in good order and there is no fine print that can get you into trouble later, up to and including your landlord suing you. Some landlords may try to take advantage of "naive" college students and get more money from them than is necessarily in those student's leases. What do I need to look out for before i sign a lease? Rental contracts (or a lease, as I will be calling them) are "a contract renting land, buildings, etc., to another; a contract or instrument conveying property to another for a specified period or for a period determinable at the will of either lessor or lessee in consideration of rent or other compensation." Often times they are written in comprehensive legal jargon, making it very difficult for one to know what they may be getting themselves into. ''It is important that you understand what your lease says so that you are aware of any discrepancies that may arise and create a bad living environment for you-which is especially not good for a busy student. ''Don't just take it from me, here are some stories about bad landlords that is updated whenever someone makes a post. As a student of Eastern for 4 1/2 years, I have come across many stories about bad leases and/or bad landlords. Not only have I gone to school here, but for 3 years I have worked for a landlord in Charleston who's been in the business for over 40 years. In my discussions with him, I have quickly learned that even people who have rented for years can be duped really easily if they aren't paying attention to what his or her lease says. Also, checking out the apartment prior to signing the lease will give you a heads up of what the place is like, and a chance to make sure everything is in order before you move in. Here are a few things you need to look out for: *Is there a fine for pets? *Look for mouse droppings! Check everywhere. *In my experience, give your landlord the benefit of the doubt at first if he doesn't fix a problem. If it's important enough to you, call the landlord and tell him you will do the work if he is willing to pay you to do it. If he's busy enough he doesn't want to do the work himself, he will probably be more than happy to let you do it. Hey, its a great way to make money! *If you don't want to do the work yourself, look for who is to make repairs to the apartment in the case of a problem. Some landlords refer you to a manager who takes care of the maintenance of the building, and my landlord gave a list of different services (i.e. a plumber, heating and air conditioning company) for me in case of an emergency. *Look to see if utilities are included. Just because the landlord said he's paying for trash removal, there's nothing binding him to do it unless it's in the lease. *Even if you know exactly where you want to rent, find out the prices of surrounding apartments in the area you want to rent in. The landlord may have the building WAY overpriced-that happened to me the first time I went apartment shopping. *Find out if you need a permit to park in the parking lot. This would be an unexpected and irritating problem to have... You don't want to walk out to your car in the first week of living there and find a ticket on your windshield, or worse-find that it was towed. *How much is the security deposit? Some landlords charge a small fee, others can charge up to 2 months rent. Both are acceptable, but also find out how the landlord reimburses you at the end. Most deduct cleaning fees and then give you what is left over. It's not a bad idea to walk around the apartment before you rent and make a list of anything you find wrong with it, date it, and possibly have the landlord sign it. In this case, the landlord can not charge you for something you didn't break. *'KEEP YOUR LEASE!' The lease is an important legal document that protects both you and your landlord, but mostly your landlord. It's designed to keep him safe from bad lessees (tenants). If something arises, you may need to consult it and if the landlord has the only copy then it could obviously lead to some... problems. *A fantastic website that I came across one day is www.judici.com. This is a website that lists court cases for Coles County, among many other counties. It's all public record, so go check out the landlord's legal history to see if that can help you decide on the apartment. Learning how to understand a lease now will help you in the future As a young college student, this is a time of learning and trial and error. Your first apartment probably isn't going to be completely what you want, likely because of budget constraints. However, even people that have rented apartments for years may get a bad landlord, so it is important that everyone who rents an apartment at any time in their lives become comfortable with reading leases and knowing how to check over their apartments before they sign the contract.